It has long been recognized that the telephone is an extremely important instrument to one who is partially handicapped as a result of injury or illness and who is therefore restricted in mobility or activity because it permits communication with friends and relatives, a great psychological aid, and with those who can render assistance when needed, a significant safety and comfort factor.
Thus, there have been numerous efforts to provide devices which respond to minimal "signals" from the user to activate and control the telephone. Additionally, there have been devices developed merely as conveniences for telephone use by the non-handicapped. Examples of these efforts are found in the following U.S. Patents:
______________________________________ 2,512,981 Svoekhotoff 2,533,234 Edwards 3,170,990 Beatty 3,179,749 Snow 3,248,481 Grote et al 3,274,344 Young 3,319,003 Prager 3,384,720 Beatty 3,531,599 Bodie 3,581,021 Pettit 3,612,766 Ferguson 3,715,520 Lambrou 3,725,602 Hoffman 3,833,766 Eklof et al 3,848,249 Meiri 3,993,876 Davis 4,010,330 Shio 4,058,686 Fleming 4,104,485 Pessel et al 4,081,623 Vogeley 4,079,196 Spanel ______________________________________
Unfortunately, each of these efforts has one or more disadvantages which limits its practical usefulness in the environment of interest. One of the most common disadvantages is expense, a very important factor for one who, normally, does not have income-earning capacity and must therefore rely on expenditures by family or public institutions who are already under a significant financial burden.
A second, and very significant, disadvantage is the limited capability of some devices to control the telephone. For example, the patent to Beatty shows a device which can be controlled to dial an operator who can then be asked to provide assistance. This is, of course, not usable at all if the person has a handicap which renders his or her voice difficult to understand by those not accustomed to hearing it. But even if the person's voice is not impaired, it requires the time of operators who are already burdened with duties, a trend which should be discouraged. The need to call upon an operator for help is also a psychological barrier to one who has a strong need to do as much as possible without help.
Others of the devices require alteration of the electrical or mechanical equipment of the telephone system itself. This is undesirable because it requires installation by a person having the necessary skills, a cost and convenience factor. It also has the potential for causing other problems in the telephone system and certainly limits the telephone use to one location which could be a serious inconvenience to one who is partly mobile, as by a wheelchair. Such connections are also discouraged by the telephone companies unless their own equipment for this purpose is being used at considerable cost.